The departments of Defense and Homeland Security continue to be vital customers for the satellite sector. Satellite owners and operators may profit from the ramped-up need for their services, but heavy cost burdens continue to plague their business plans.
However, other companies that take advantage of existing satellites-by leasing space on them or offering equipment that makes them valuable-are finding luck in the space. Two such companies, Segovia Inc. and Norsat International, are offering critical communications capabilities in support of U.S. military forces deployed around the world.
Segovia is “maybe the first company to build a global satellite network for IP services from the ground up,” said Kirby Farrell, the company’s co-founder and executive vice president.
Its customer base is about 80 percent DoD and 20 percent DoHS, and its main business plan is to provide secure voice and data Internet Protocol broadband services to military forces throughout the world. Farrell said the company has about 3,000 Cisco voice-over-IP phones on its network, mostly in Iraq, and is operating 175 Internet cafes in Iraq, each of which is equipped with 20 laptop computers and eight VoIP phones.
Segovia colocates its equipment in teleports, or “satellite-dish farms,” as described by Farrell. In addition, it leases space on satellites. Its equipment is located in three teleports and on five satellites owned by PanAmSat, New Skies Satellite and Loral Space & Communications Ltd. Farrell said the company hopes to be in five teleports and on seven satellites by the end of this year, which would provide it with a “redundant” view of the world.
The only parts of the Segovia network that are black are the North and South Poles and certain parts of Asia. Also, parts of the oceans are not covered, but Segovia is trying to secure coverage there to make its service attractive to the Navy, said Farrell. ” `Global’ means whatever’s important to our users,” explained Farrell, adding that the company’s primary user base is the Army. The company promises its customers it can activate service anywhere, including places currently outside its footprint, within four weeks.
Segovia basically sells a dish to its customers. The product is computerized and equipped with a global positioning system. Users activate the system, and it locks itself in when it finds a beam from a satellite. According to Farrell, the solution is attractive to military forces conducting operations, because Segovia needs to know only what satellite a user is on, not geographically where the user is.
Segovia’s system is also being marketed in the United States for homeland security purposes and natural disasters-situations in which primary communications networks may be out of service. Farrell said combination Wi-Fi/cellular/satellite networks, in which each technology plays its own well-defined part, are becoming more popular. “They think of us as reach-back,” he explained.
Norsat, meanwhile, has been around for 26 years, dependent on its microwave component business, which supplies components that go on commercial satellites to transmit and receive communications.
The stable, cash-generating nature of that business has recently allowed Norsat to broaden its focus, explained Cameron Hunter, president and chief executive officer, which it did by going after end users with its OmniLink portable terminals.
OmniLink is a portable satellite communications device that comes in a NewsLink video version and a SecureLink data version. It consists of three suitcases containing rugged high-performance communications equipment. The solution is airline checkable and can be set up in 10 to 12 minutes, according to Hunter.
The NewsLink video version of OmniLink is targeted at broadcasters. Both CBS and FOX took the solution into Iraq at the onset of the war. “That allowed us to field test and battle test our solution,” said Hunter, explaining that Norsat made upgrades to the system based on feedback from the news stations and re-launched the product in its current form about a year ago. The solution provides 8-megabit performance, which according to Hunter, translates into “6 o’clock news-type quality video.”
The system is also used by the military for internal communications.
Norsat’s SecureLink data solution is targeted at government users, including for military, homeland-security and natural-disaster purposes. Like the Segovia system, it allows users to send live data to the appropriate points of contact from anywhere, even if the traditional communications network is down.
Norsat’s equipment is sold through resellers, and it works on any satellite.
